Executive Assault 2 News

Hi executives, been working hard on this new patch which I hope you will enjoy with plenty fixed and some new features and a second significant optimisation upgrade meaning higher frame rates:

• Mechanoids now have access to heavy weapons.
  
• Executrons now have access to heavy weapons.
  
• Added new point defence weapon to the support load out which attempts to shoot down incoming long range missiles.
  
• Defence platforms have now been added to the support group for extra strategies to emerge.
  
• Mining ships, cargo ships and star fighters now add to the population cap.
  
• Direct controlled units and Executrons get dealt 50% less damage.
  
• Firing rate on fighters, drones and star ships doubled when direct controlling.
  
• Carriers now rebuild fighters every 10 seconds once all fighters have been recalled.
  
• CTRL + K now self destruct all selected units.
  
• CTRL + K also kills the currently possessed unit except CEO.
  
• Added GUI showing weapons firing on star ships.
  

• Long range missiles now fire less frequently.
  
• Monolith now costs 35000 Ironite and takes 10 minutes to research.
  
• Flak explosive range increased from 20 to 40.
  
• AI will now build better units against outposts.
  
• Traders will now carry up to 5000 Ironite.
  
• A game against 3 AI companies has been removed by default however this can be re enabled in the options screen. Some of you may wonder why this has happened but I have come to the conclusion that most peoples computers based on the logs I have been receiving cannot handle 3 AI's.
  

• Cargo operations screen no longer causes slow down.
  
• Weapons on ships now uses a lot less CPU power to fire to help speed up the game.
  
• Audio priority has changed so that important sounds like announcements don’t get cut off.
  
• Game menu size reduced.
  
• Defences were sometimes not spawning in multiplayer.
  
• Gateway ships should no longer dock with doorways after a building is added to the point.
  
• Executons can no longer access the stations operations using the F keys.
  
• Mining outpost ship fab screen now works over multiplayer.
  
• Mining outpost capturing team now works correctly over multiplayer.
  
• Manually constructed mining ships should now auto take off when idle.
  
• Cargoships now assign outpost when right clicked on.
  
• Monolith construction cap now displays when trying to deploy.
  
• Removed the words tracking from missiles.
  
• Missile 4 was missing from the tech tree.
  
• Ai should build ships with the latest researched weapons.
  
• Defence outpost missiles no longer go mad attacking gateway probes.
  
• Reduced the size of pilot UI.
  
• Telling long range ships to attack a structure should not make them move.
  
• Weapons and specials on defence platform now only activate once deployed.
  
• Flak gun now working.
  
• Lightning weapons now visually work against shields.
  
• No longer kicked out of turrets by the AI.
  
• Subsystem icons sometimes not appearing has been fixed.
  
• Support class should no longer randomly disable.
  
• Fleet cost of a ship shown in the design screen.
  
• Hacked doors will now stay open for 30 seconds when the AI is controlling the building.
  
• Mechnaoids can now open unlocked doors.
  
• Rockets are now more accurate in the direction they fire.
  
• Goods production info now available on resource control screen.
  
• 3rd person view removed from Mechanoid due to camera issues.
  
• Fixed robots trying to hack unlocked open doors.
  

As with all new patches please let me know if it broke something and I will try and fix it ASAP.

One problem that occasionally crops up is finding a Z11 bot or Infestor floating about outside the station, if this happens I would be very interested in a bug report as I am having a hard time trying to locate how this is happening.

Next I will be working on improving the siege mechanics and internal defences and also want to start progressing towards creating a scenario editor in preparation for starting work on the single player campaign.

Have a great week!

Cheers
Rob

Another tiny but important one today.

• Docking bay construction panel now works for executrons on an AI base.
  
• Research outposts now give you high tech when constructed.
  
• May have fixed getting stuck in Direct control mode, I could see roughly where the error was in the code but couldn't recreate so I added extras to stop you getting stuck.
  
• Rearranged some of the doors on the mining outpost so the buttons aren't submerged into the walls
  
• Star fighters now have the correct shields
  
• Star fighters should now turn off shields when docked to allow entry
  
• Missiles are no longer tracking except on the defence outpost.
  
• Defence outpost missiles now fire in multiplayer.
  
• Defence outpost missiles have now been upgraded to level 2
  
• Main menu should now work with ultra wide screen monitors.
  

Thank you again for all the bug submissions and ideas, please remember the more information included in a bug report the more likely it will be fixed.

Cheers
Rob

Some changes today to make things more stable

• Second sniper and flame thrower removed from tech tree as the tech hadn't actually been made yet but would cause major issues if researched.
  
• Single player games will no longer sometimes start as a multiplayer game
  
• Loading a game will no longer sometimes start as a multiplayer game
  
• Fixed gap in Ore Processing facility where robots could walk into space.
  
• Fixed portal sending troops waiting at the ring before the gateway had fully opened which sometimes caused troops to appear in space.
  
• Added more turrets to the gateway room to help combat coming in that way.
  
• AI now updates and rebuilds internal turrets
  
• AI will react faster to a ground assault.
  

Cheers,
Rob

Hi, small but important patch today.

New Feature
The multiplayer lobby is now multi region so you can join your friends across the planet without having to cycle between regions in the options menu.

Region control has been removed from the options menu and moved to the server creation window where you can choose where you want to host your game, this setting may have changed from your previous settings however once you choose a new region it should remain the default.

You may notice the list is a lot smaller but don't worry I tested the ping between regions plus taking data from since the game was released to selected the best servers for you to choose from. In time if more servers are needing to be added I will look at expanding the list.

Some of you may wonder about the region pings, the way they work are that when you host a game you aren't physically hosting anything, this is all happening on a server on the planet somewhere so what is actually happening is everyone including the person who started the game is connecting to that server so the ping is only between you and it.

Do let me know your thoughts with the new lobby (this is why its in Early Access :D ).

Fixes

• There was an issue connecting as an Executron which caused the words "construction" to get stuck on the screen and also sometimes multiple versions of your self to spawn, this particular issue has now been fixed so joining as one should be more stable.
  
• No more CEO making a sort of passing gas sound when the game starts.
  
• Hacking and green circle symbols should no longer get stuck on the screen.
  
• A problem where mining ships would stop moving after an Executron who had captured an outpost had left the game has been fixed.
  

Cheers,
Rob

Small but important update based on feedback from yesterdays patch.

• Access to high level tech should now respond better to if you gain or loose a research outpost.
  
• Purchasing tech from the trader and activating it should no longer affect current research.
  
• One time only buildings should only appear once now.
  
• Loadout tubes on the Executron facility should now work again.
  
• Mech factory build interface should be the correct one now
  
• Star fighters made in the docking bay should no longer auto take off, making a second one will cause the first one to take off.
  
• Turret take over issue on outposts has been fixed.
  
• Docking bay constructor now does a better job checking the build area
  
• Telling a star fighter to dock while its undocking should no longer break it.
  

Thank you again for the feedback from everyone, please please please though make sure you write out a proper bug report instead of just submitting pictures or saying "It's broken".

Also please don't submit bug reports based on loading old saves from previous patches, there is a reason they are all red with a warning.

Cheers
Rob